Body Scanner Resolution Rooms Conduct & Privacy

Happy new year! Over the holidays, I read an article titled “The TSA Is Laughing at You” talking about what happens in the resolution rooms where body scanner images are viewed. We’ve talked about this many times in the past, but information is often spread through uninformed sketchy third-hand sources. So, I just wanted to post on privacy issues again.

First off, I want to make it clear that since the implementation of new software on our body scanners, many of the rooms are no longer in use. Instead, a generic image is used for millimeter wave scanners. You can read more about the software here. This is what the image looks like: 

Millimeter Wave Image

These resolution rooms are still used in locations where backscatter machines are in place. For units that do not yet have the new software, TSA has taken all efforts to ensure passenger privacy. The officer who assists the passenger never sees the image the technology produces and the officer who views the image is remotely located in a secure resolution room and never sees the passenger. The two officers communicate via wireless headset. The resolution room is used only for the viewing of the images and is not a gathering place or break room for other officers as the officer viewing the images has to be focused in order to prevent any dangerous items from entering the airport.

Advanced imaging technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image, and the image is automatically deleted from the system after it is cleared by the remotely located security officer. Officers evaluating images are not permitted to take cameras, cell phones or photo-enabled devices into the resolution room. Initially, it was feared by the traveling public that these images would be leaked and posted online. This has not happened. To further protect passenger privacy, backscatter technology has a privacy filters that blur images.

This is the image our officers see from the viewing room. 

Backscatter Image

You can read even more about the body scanners here: http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/advanced-imaging-technology-ait

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

Opting Out of AIT (Body Scanners)

Since the holidays often bring out the infrequent and first-time travelers, I felt it important to address this on the blog.

TSA has given passengers the option of opting out of imaging technology. If you choose to opt out, simply let the officer know you would like to opt out of the body scanner, and you will receive a pat-down instead.

If you’ve never been screened with this technology and aren’t sure whether you want to opt out or not, here are some helpful links that might help inform your decision.

AIT: Safety
AIT: Frequently Asked Questions
AIT: Privacy

We’re also aware of the Opt Out and Film week, where some are planning on opting out of the body scanner and then filming their experience. TSA respects passengers rights to exercise freedom of speech as well as the rights of fellow travelers trying to get to their destination safely and without unnecessary delay. While the TSA does not prohibit photographs at screening locations, local laws, state statutes, or local ordinances may.

TSA takes its mission to protect the safety of the traveling public seriously and our officers will continue to uphold our high standards of professionalism during the busy holiday season and every day throughout the year. We are reminded of the need for constant vigilance with instances such as the 2009 suicide bomb attempt.

If you’re traveling via commercial airliner this holiday season, be sure to check out the new post on holiday travel tips!

Bob Burns

TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here. 

Viral Video About Body Scanners

A video is making its way around the interwebs this morning from some guy claiming he figured out a way to beat our body scanners (imaging technology).

I watched the video and it is a crude attempt to allegedly show how to circumvent TSA screening procedures.

For obvious security reasons, we can’t discuss our technology's detection capability in detail, however TSA conducts extensive testing of all screening technologies in the laboratory and at airports prior to rolling them out to the entire field. Imaging technology has been extremely effective in the field and has found things artfully concealed on passengers as large as a gun or nonmetallic weapons, on down to a tiny pill or tiny baggies of drugs. It’s one of the best tools available to detect metallic and non-metallic items, such as… you know… things that go BOOM.

With all that said, it is one layer of our 20 layers of security (Behavior Detection, Explosives Detection Canines, Federal Air Marshals, , etc.) and is not a machine that has all the tools we need in one handy device. We’ve never claimed it’s the end all be all.

However, our nation's aviation system is much safer now with the deployment of 600 imaging technology units at 140 airports. It is completely safe and the vast majority use a generic image that completely addresses privacy concerns. Also, keep in mind that is optional. Anybody can opt out of the body scanner for a pat-down. 

Blogger Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team    

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA. 

TSA Officers Focus on Security, not Good Looks

The internet is abuzz with posts, tweets and news articles regarding allegations that TSA officers required a passenger to go through a body scanner multiple times because she was attractive.

First, I want to reassure all passengers that TSA does not profile passengers.   

Second, I’m pleased to inform all concerned parties that every single one of our millimeter wave units in the field, including those at Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW airport), have been equipped for quite some time with privacy software that no longer displays a specific image of the person being screened.

The monitor is mounted on the scanner itself, and here’s what both the passenger and officer see:

That’s it. In fact, if there are no alarms, a green screen with “OK” is all that’s displayed. There is no longer a need for an officer to review images in a remote location because there are no longer any privacy concerns with the image. 

Even when we did review the images in a remote room, they looked more like fuzzy photo negatives than the images that some make them out to be. Furthermore, it’s not TSA’s policy to scan passengers multiple times. 

We have no record of the passenger filing a complaint when this allegedly occurred more than six months ago. Had it been reported to TSA at that time, we could have reviewed CCTV and interviewed the officers. We were instead notified about these allegations by the media more than six months after the alleged incident. 

In situations such as these, passengers should use Talk to TSA to contact a customer support manager at the airport they traveled through. Passengers can also call our contact center. We want to hear from you, good or bad. We take your feedback seriously and will use the details you provide to look into your concerns. 

Our backscatter units (another type of body scanner) will eventually use the same software and still required the need of an officer in a remote private location to view the images. That officer never sees the passenger, just their image. In case you’re wondering, DFW only has millimeter wave units.

When it all comes down to it, our officers are focusing on keeping passengers safe, not their good looks.

Blogger Bob Burns  
TSA Blog Team 

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.

Passengers who Refuse Screening are Denied Access to the Secure Area

Earlier today, Senator Rand Paul raised some questions about the screening process after going through one of TSA’s millimeter wave body scanners that use automated target recognition (ATR) technology. The ATR software displays the same generic image for all passengers to further protect passenger's privacy.

The benefit of automated target recognition is that when a passenger alarms, the officer can look at the generic image to see where the alarm is and then do a targeted pat down to clear the area. For example, if the alarm shows that something might be in your cargo pocket, the officer will pat down the area around your pocket to determine what caused the alarm. 

When a passenger or bag alarms in screening technology at a TSA checkpoint, the alarm has to be resolved before the passenger can enter the secure area past the checkpoint. Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process can’t be granted access to the secure area. TSA notifies law enforcement when this happens, and law enforcement officers can escort them out of the checkpoint. This isn’t done to punish the passenger– it’s done to ensure that every person who gets on a plane is screened appropriately. 

Blogger Bob Burns 
TSA Blog Team

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.